Our Team is Creating a Sustainable Future, Today

Cellana’s leadership team is group of biotechnology, scientific and industry professionals dedicated to the future of a cleaner, greener, more energy-secure future.

Martin Sabarsky, JD, MBAChief Executive Officer

Mr. Sabarsky has served as CEO of Cellana since April 2011. Prior to this he had been CFO and COO of the Company since 2008. Prior to joining the Company, from 2000 to 2007, he led the corporate development function at Diversa Corporation within the Finance and Accounting department and took on increasing levels of management responsibility, most recently as Vice President of Corporate Development and a member of the Executive Committee. Before Diversa, Mr. Sabarsky worked as an investment banker with Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., where he focused on financings and mergers and acquisitions within the life sciences industry and was a lead banker on Diversa’s $200 million IPO in 2000. Prior to joining Bear Stearns he worked as a transactional attorney with Latham & Watkins LLP. Mr. Sabarsky has an A.B. in Biology and Political Science from Brown University, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and an M.B.A. from the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Algae Biomass Organization (ABO).

David Anton, PhDChief Operating Officer

Dr. Anton has served as COO of Cellana since January 2015. He brings nearly 30 years of relevant experience to the company, including prior technology and business leadership roles at some of the industry’s most innovative companies. Prior to joining Cellana, Dr. Anton held the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Joule in which he led the transition of Joule’s CO2-to-fuels technology into a commercial reality. Dr. Anton spent five years at Codexis in multiple leadership roles, including Senior Vice President of Bioindustrials, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Process Development & Manufacturing. During his tenure, he oversaw development and commercial application of the company’s bioindustrial platform and led the global R&D and manufacturing organization. He previously spent 25 years at DuPont in multiple senior management positions across bioprocessing and biocatalysis, including the role of global business lead for development of DuPont’s advanced biofuel. Dr. Anton holds a BS in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Minnesota.

Selena Ellis-Vizcarra, MBASenior Director, Corporate Development

Ms. Ellis-Vizcarra is based in San Diego, California and serves as the Director of Corporate Development for Cellana. Prior to joining Cellana she was with Verenium (formerly Diversa) Corporation holding a variety of increasingly responsible positions in the Business Development, Finance/Accounting, Intellectual Property, and Corporate Development departments with her final position being Contracts Manager, where she reported to the Chief Financial Officer. Selena has been in the biotech space as a Project Manager often for Federally-funded projects and for cross functional teams for over 20 years with responsibility for over $150M in cumulative fundings. Selena has a B.A. in Economics with a Minor in English and an M.B.A., both from San Diego State University.

Based in Kona at Cellana’s Kona Demonstration Facility, Dr. Johanna Anton has more than 20 years of science-driven technical and business experience. At DuPont, she held positions in research and development, technical service, sales and marketing, supply chain, customer service management, and engineering technology management. Dr. Anton is a Six Sigma certified Black Belt with project management experience who excels in coaching employees and managing cross-functional teams for maximum individual and organizational productivity. She comes to Cellana after being President of the Bay Area Biotechnology Education Consortium (BABEC), which provides in-classroom educational outreach to tens of thousands of high school students annually. She was also Program Manager for the Life Sciences Initiative of the California Community Colleges and an adjunct faculty member at City College San Francisco in the Biotechnology program. Dr. Anton has a Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Southern Mississippi with a focus on microbial production of biopolymers.

Chris Marlett PatulskiController

Ms. Marlett Patulski joined the Cellana team in January 2014 as Controller. Her accounting career spans over 30 plus years, holding various positions in Michigan, Texas, and Hawaii. Starting with a local CPA firm in Michigan, she worked for various companies from small privately held corporations to large publicly traded organizations in the retail, distribution, and manufacturing sectors, with a heavy emphasis in the manufacturing sector. In addition to financial and accounting related responsibilities, Ms. Marlett Patulski has also been responsible for Budgeting and Forecasting, Treasury functions, Payroll and Human Resource functions, Risk Management, Bank and Funding relationships, Procurement, Inventory Control, and IT functions, and has exposure to acquisitions, mergers, restructurings, and shut down and conversion of a manufacturing facility to a distribution operation. Ms. Marlett Patulski has extensive experience in financial and ERP system implementations and conversions, having served in Implementation Manager and System Administrator roles in the past, and has been involved in multiple conversions/installations. Before joining Cellana, Ms. Marlett Patulski was Controller and Corporate Secretary for Better Bags, Inc., a plastic packaging solution provider to the Grocery Industry. Ms. Marlett Patulski graduated summa cum laude from Aquinas College, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a major in Accounting.

Avery KramerDirector, Engineering & Downstream Processing

Avery Kramer is Cellana’s Director, Engineering & Downstream Processing. He has served in a variety of capacities at Cellana since 2007 with increasing levels of responsibility, including as Operations Manager, and has overseen health, safety, and environmental (HSE) areas as well as quality assurance (QA). Most recently Avery was Manager of Business Development. Prior to Cellana, he worked in the biopharmaceutical industry in the San Francisco Bay area in business development, project management, and quality assurance roles. Mr. Kramer has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was the inaugural exchange student for the National Science Foundation’s Marine Bioproducts Engineering Center (MARBEC).

Who We Are

Cellana, a leading developer of algae-based bioproducts, uses the most productive plants on earth – marine microalgae – to produce its ReNew™ line of Omega-3 EPA and DHA oils, animal feed, and biofuel feedstocks.